1. Technical Field
This invention relates to sport training equipment and, more particularly, to a golf swing exercising and training apparatus for assisting a user to improve a golf swing.
2. Prior Art
Among businessmen and professionals, golf has long been the sport of choice. Today, with the rise of stars such as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, and the lasting popularity of legends such as Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, the sport is more popular than ever. Every year from spring to fall throughout the United States and the world, thousands of players head out to municipal courses and private clubs to tee up and take aim down the fairway. With their bags strapped to their backs or loaded on carts, golfers make their way through the course, counting their strokes and trying to stay under par. Ask any avid golfer and they will tell you, the greatest part of the game is the fresh cut grass and warmth of the summer day, the feel of the ball hitting the sweet spot of the club, and watching it soar off into the sky only to bounce down onto the distant green. Business associates, doctors and lawyers, fathers and sons, sisters and mothers, high school kids and college teams alike bring out their clubs every season in hopes of beating their personal best scores.
However, golf is not always fun, and rarely is it easy. Courses are designed to challenge the player and make low scores difficult to achieve. It is not unusual to see frustration on the faces of disgruntled players on the eighteenth hole, after a day of searching for their ball in the heavy rough, or watching them hook off into the trees or ponds, lost forever. While money may buy the most popular or custom made clubs and gear, or may pay for hours of lessons, one of the most important aspects of the game is perfecting the swing. Without a consistent motion and approach at every tee, players will likely find themselves pitching from off the fairway, behind trees, or digging out of a sand trap. It is for this reason that machines have been invented to assist a player in coordinating his or her arms, hips, and legs to uncover and maintain the perfect swing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,656,055 to Marro discloses a machine for learning the bodily position and motion known as a swing in the game of golf to form correct golf posture based on a player's height, and more specifically the player's distance from the hips to the ground and from the shoulders to the hips and by the motions during the golf swing. The machine learns the bodily position and motions of the golf player in hitting the ball. The machine includes two plates arranged so that they can move on a column, one at the height of the player's hips and the other at the height of the shoulders, the latter with arms leaving said plate and ending in a hinged belt for holding the hips and the other having a lower arm and upper arm terminating in a shoulder bar for holding the player's shoulders. Unfortunately, this prior art reference does not disclose a means for correctly training a user how to position their head during the swinging procedure, a vital component of a desired golf swing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,633 to Sciarrillo discloses a golf practice device having a golf club guiding member consisting of a single tube wound in the form of a helix having in excess of one and a half turns. The diameter of the helix is somewhat less than the arc of a club head during the golf swing and the guide is supported on the ground or other surface such that the helix lies approximately in the plane defined by the shaft of a golf club during the normal golf swing. One end of the helix terminates adjacent the impact region of the club with the golf ball. The helical guide member extends away from the point of impact in the direction of the back swing. The pitch of the helix increases so that the overlapping turns of the helix are divergent in going from the point of impact to the top of the back swing region of the golf swing. The overlapping turns of the helix are held in fixed spaced relation by a supporting leg in the form of an open loop, the ends of the loop supporting the adjacent overlapping portions of the helical guide. One end of the helix may be braced from the supporting leg. Unfortunately, this prior art reference does not disclose a means of positioning the user's spine, head, and arms in such a manner to teach correct posture during swinging procedures.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,264 to Wootten discloses a golf swing training apparatus including a base, an upright support frame, rotary guide arm assembly at the top of the support frame establishing a reference axis of rotation at an inner arm portion and having an outer end flexibly coupled to the club head so that as the club is swung it is confined to a swing plane perpendicular to the reference axis of rotation. There is adjustment in frame height and angle of incline for the reference axis of rotation as well as adjustment in the drag. There is also a tensioning feature to dampen the inertia mass during the stroke. Unfortunately, this prior art reference also does not assist the user in training their muscles to memorize the desired movement of the swing and does not position the user's body in the correct stance to maximize swing accuracy.
Accordingly, a need remains for a golf swing exercising and training apparatus in order to overcome the above-noted shortcomings. The present invention satisfies such a need by providing a device that is convenient and easy to use, is durable yet lightweight in design, is versatile in its applications, and provides golfers with much needed assistance in improving their golf swing.